Charlie, Mac and Will try to save “News Night’s” credibility with Election Night coverage on “The Newsroom.” (Photo property of HBO)
By: Jacob Elyachar
The News Night with Will McAvoy team has had a rough year.
After falling under this mystifying story of “Operation: Genoa,” the newscast lost all of its credibility with the public and several of its senior staff members (Will, Charlie and Mac) offered their resignations to Leona Lansing, who promptly refused them and challenged them to get the public’s trust back!
Did the News Night crew earn the public’s trust tonight? Read on to find out!
As the team prepared for the long night ahead, Jim talked with his girlfriend, Hallie Shea, who was waiting for the results at the Romney-Ryan Victory Party. Jim shared the “Genoa” controversy and told his girlfriend that there will be no story until Charlie gives his approval.
Meanwhile, Charlie met with Will and Atlantis World Media litigator Rebecca Halliday to discuss the upcoming lawsuits. Charlie angrily reminded them that the military are not taking their calls and this Genoa controversy sent the News Night newsroom “to the Zoo. “ Will calmed his longtime friend down and told him that he would be the President of Morale, which Charlie was shocked by. After Ms. Halliday left the office, Charlie told Will that Mac was still “shaken up” by the Genoa incident and told him that he could fire her.
After the Producers’ Meeting, Will and Mac met behind closed doors where his former lover panicked about the embarrassing material that was about to go public. Will told Mac that he wanted to table the lawsuit talk until after election night and was very concerned about her psyche. Meanwhile, Mac told Will that he was “a bomb that hasn’t detonated” and was worried that he would explode tonight.
To help Will with the Decision 2012 coverage, News Night brought in Sloan, Right Now anchor Elliot Hirsch and Taylor, who appeared as a Republican strategist. It was very interesting to see how all four of them interacted and they took cheap shots at each other while on the air. After Jim and Taylor traded snide comments with each other, Taylor received a new ally in Maggie and gave her some critical information that could help her one-up Jim.
During the broadcast, tensions remained at an all-time high. If there were not focused on the election, then the staff was focused on their personal agendas. Sloan’s book that she donated for the ACN Hurricane Sandy fundraiser sold $1,000 but did not sign it, which freaked her out and asked Neal to hunt down the winner so she could apologize. Meanwhile, Mac started to lose it as Taylor gave her a wrong personal fact and asked Neal for his assistance by changing her Wikipedia page…something that sent Mac to spiral out of control.
At a commercial break, Will met Mac at her office and wondered what has gotten into her. Then, Mac begged her former boyfriend to fire her! “Fire me,” she stated. “You are the only one that can do it!” After an escalating argument, Will finally agreed and advised her not to tell anyone.
Around the News Night office, Charlie begged to Reese Lansing to fire him so that the others do not have to feel the blow of the lawsuit. But as much as Reese wanted to do it, his mother is still not taking the resignation. Meanwhile, Don received bad news from Rebecca as Jerry Dantana is suing him for slander as Maggie’s girlfriend called him: “a hard-working sociopath” to a potential employer.
Next week: Season Two ends with a bang as Leona and Charlie have a long overdue confrontation and Mac has gone missing!
